Laghi di Sibari

Sibari is a secure, well protect harbour, a good boat yard and a safe place to winter the boat. It is also very reasonably priced.

I highly recommend it, despite some drawbacks, which you should be well aware of, before committing to a winter:

1. In September, there is no mini market open anywhere near the marina. It is 6 Km to Sibari town and a €15 cab ride, each way. The marina kindly offers a free bus ride to the supermarket twice a week, which is quite workable once you get used to the schedule . The bus rides are also a good time to meet other cruisers from the marina.

The marina offers the use of a bicycle, but it is quite a way to town and some of it would be highway travel.

2. There are no good restaurants open near the marina. I walked 15 minutes to a restaurant in the Oleandro hotel for lunch once. I was the only diner, the food was OK, but quite expensive.

There is a small bar in the marina, that serves pasta and eggplant Parmesan but only on weekends.

3. 4. There is nothing much in Sibari town, except the supermarket. Not even any good restaurants. A very rural area.

5. It is a long way from airports. I caught the overnight train to Rome to fly out, although there are airports in Crotone and Lamezia Terme.

Apart from all this, it is a lovely place and the marina staff are very nice and helpful. You just need to have the right expectations and you will not be disappointed.

It is a quite a big development, and a large marina complex with apartment housing with private docks throughout. I am not sure if it picks up in summer, but it is extremely dead and depressed in September.

Don't be put off by my comments though. I am very happy to have chosen Sibari as my winter haulout and would do it again and again.

This is about a 40 minute walk from the marina, and about 1km from the Ciao Ciao restaurant and is worth a visit. It is free, and we were had a personal guide who walked us through the property and did his best to explain the site to us in Italian for about 30 minutes. We gave him a tip at the end.

This the upper levels indicate very plush roman palaces with mosaic floors, fountains with indoor plumbing. There is also evidence of ancient , cobbled roads, one leading toward the sea and another leading to the North Gate which they say are from ancient Sibari from 444 BC. There is a small theater and many columns and capitals. There is some question by scholars as to whether this is the site of ancient Sibari which was destroyed by the Crotones and wiped off the face of the earth by diverting the river Crathis to flood the town.

The closest airports are Crotone and Lamezia Terme which are both about two hours away by bus or train.

I chose instead to catch the night train to Rome and fly out of da Vinci airport. The train left Sibari station at about 1030pm and arrived in Rome at 0630 in the morning. The train was not crowded until we got close to Rome, so I had a compartment to myself and was able to stretch out and sleep.

The train compartments are of the pulman type and the seats slide forward and down to join the opposite seat to form a bed. I don't know what it would be like with a full load of six or eight people.

The train ticket from Sibari to Roma Termini station cost a total of €29.50; consisting of €26.50 for the ticket which is valid for 2 months and €3 for the reserved seat

Toilets, Showers

Be aware that the channel silts up during the winter, and actually forms a sand bar that needs to be dredged in the spring, before boats can leave the marina. Unless you are planning to leave before May 15, this should not be a problem. The canal is usually fully open by the end of May.

Some unhappy boats had to wait from April 15th for 4 weeks before the canal opened. Once again, it is all a matter of managing expectations and being aware of what to expect.

After waiting a while for the pilot, I thought I could see my way in, so I canceled.

The channel forms a dog leg. From the clearly visible red and green sea buoys you approach the beach and pick up some small mooring type buoys some of which have flaking paint.

It seems logical to begin with, having orangy-red buoys to port, then you come to the last buoy off the breakwater, which is yellow and assume this to be a starboard mark, but the fisherman on the breakwater beckoned me to leave it to port and pass between the buoy and the breakwater.

You are safe, once you are in the cut, even though it looks very narrow with sand banks sticking out from the pier, but I always had a meter or more below my 1.8m keel.

The marina office called to arrange Forte Francesco taxi to collect me from the marina, take me to the train station in Sibari to collect my wife from the train, and return us to the marina. The cost for this was €30.

The telephone number is +39 328 1728023, but english is limited, so you might be better off having the marina make the arrangements.

Somewhat sparsely populated museum, but worth a 20 minute visit for only €2. Lots of pottery from the city of Sibaris renowned for opulence and the height of luxury in the early days. The original city was destroyed by enemies diverting a river.Howard [ Just Imagine ] 31-May-2009

During my first days at the marina, while desperate for food, I ate one pizza at the restaurant and ordered another for take out ("por torrevia") for lunch the next day.

Out of season, Ciao Ciao also is the closest place to get your phone minutes recharged. The marina will provide a bicycle which makes the trip a lot quicker, but be careful of traffic, especially where the road narrows to almost one car width, just before the marina.

Heat exchanger serviced

My heat exchanger had corroded apart during my stay. The yard did an excellent job removing the rusted bolts and cleaning out the core of the heat exchanger.Howard [ Just Imagine ] 26-May-2009

New Fuel tank fabricated localy

The shipyard arranged to have my diesel tank rebuilt after I discovered that it had rotted out during my stay. I was very impressed with the quality of the workmanship, and the new tank was returned to me 4 days ahead of schedule.